


Transtrouble

by aguyofmanythings



Category: Harvey Street Kids (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen, MtF Trans OC
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-28
Updated: 2020-11-20
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:48:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 11,537
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27242953
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aguyofmanythings/pseuds/aguyofmanythings
Summary: Audrey meets Amanda Anderson, a girl who is transgender. However, Audrey suspects she's just a perverted boy in sheep's clothing. By LoudHarveyLefty.
Kudos: 2
Collections: LoudHarveyLefty's Stories





	1. Meet Amanda

**Author's Note:**

> This story does contain quite a bit of transphobia and triggering language, so if you experienced such harassment, please read with caution.

During a normal sunny day, the Harvey Girls are spending time in their headquarters doing their own things. Dot is on the couch studying for her upcoming college exam, Lotta is laying on the floor on her stomach playing with her pet bunnies, and Audrey is sitting on a bean bag looking extremely bored as she cannot think of anything fun to do to pass the time.

Audrey sighs in boredom. "I'm so bored…" she proceeds to say.

Dot gives Audrey a short glare for interrupting her studying session before looking back at her textbook.

"I'm so bored!" Audrey exclaimed, her tone now converted to that of a complaint.

Dot glares at her again and makes an annoyed groan. She then goes back to studying for her exam.

"I am so so so sooooooo bored!" Audrey complained again, standing up from the bean bag.

Dot makes an irked growl and angrily slams her textbook on the table. "Audrey, can you keep it down?! I'm trying to study for the final exam!" she scolded.

"You know, Audrey, if you're really bored, you can play with my bunnies with me," Lotta offered, petting one of her rabbits.

"No thanks!" Audrey turned down. "I want to do something really fun! Like… flying in a jetpack, or testing out rockets, or fighting aliens!"

"You know, you can be having fun on your own," Dot reminded. "I'm busy, remember?"

"Yeah, but it's more fun if I'm with you guys!" Audrey stated.

"Sorry, but I'm not available," Dot told Audrey, not taking her eyes off her textbook.

Audrey makes a frustrated growl before exclaiming, "When will something fun hit me?!"

All of a sudden, the front door swings open, hitting Audrey and causing her to fly into a wall. She crashes into the wall, creating a hole with her legs and torso sticking out. The person that suddenly swung the door open was Lucretia who was panting from all the running.

"Harvey Girls!" exclaimed Lucretia, pausing to breathe. "You gotta see this!"

"See what?" asked Lotta, curious.

"There's a new kid moving in!"

"A new kid?!" both Lotta and Dot exclaimed in unison.

"Yeah! The moving truck and the car are parked in front of the empty house as we speak! Come look!" Lucretia then runs off.

Dot places her book down and stands up from the couch. "Girls, you know the drill. It's time to welcome a new fellow Harvey Streeter!"

"Finally! Something fun!" Audrey exclaimed excitedly, still stuck in the wall. "Umm… a little help?"

* * *

Later, the Harvey Girls arrive at the street to see the children of Harvey Street surrounding two vehicles parked in front of the empty house where a family once lived. The left vehicle is a large white truck with the logo of the moving company on each side. The logo consists of two cartoonish-looking men struggling to carry a large and heavy box with words above and below that state "Maryland Moving Industries". Two workers are currently taking the stuff belonging to the family who just arrived into the empty house. The vehicle behind the truck is a turquoise van where one person still resides inside. Then, the person opens the door and comes out of the vehicle. The person is a girl around the same age as the Harvey Girls. She has blonde hair which is curly on each side of her cheeks and on the top right of her head. She is wearing a pink-and-white long-sleeved shirt and a grey skirt similar to FruFru's as well as a pink bow. She is also wearing a pair of black high-heels and long white socks. The girl turns around to face the children and slowly waves at them.

"Um… hi," she murmured nervously.

"Why, hello there, new fellow Harvey Streeter," greeted Dot. "My name is Dot, and these are my friends Lotta and Audrey."

"Hi." Lotta waved.

"What up, newbie," said Audrey.

"And together we are," the Harvey Girls then get into an epic pose, "the Harvey Girls!"

"Oh. Well, my name is Amanda Anderson," the girl greeted, "and… umm… I just moved here."

"Umm… we already see that," said Audrey.

"Well…" Amanda grew nervous, "I really don't know what else to say other than… nice to meet you all."

"Amanda!" her father suddenly called out.

Amanda turns around to see her father approaching her with a box containing Amanda's stuff.

"Can you carry your things into your new room please?"

"Sure thing, pops," Amanda agreed.

The father hands his daughter the box and walks back into the truck. As Amanda carries the box into the empty house, a frame falls off the box and onto the sidewalk. The Harvey Girls notice the fallen frame and run towards it. Audrey picks it up, and the girls take a close look at it. Inside the frame is a picture of a kid who looks exactly like Amanda, but the difference is that the kid is the opposite gender: a boy.

"Huh. This boy looks exactly like Amanda," Audrey pointed out.

"Maybe he's Amanda's twin brother," Lotta assumed.

"Funny how we didn't see him yet," said Dot, "but he could be inside the house already unpacking."

Amanda overhears their conversation and looks back to see them looking at the picture. Her eyes shrank as she saw the picture in the hands of people she just met. Worried, she drops her box and runs towards the Harvey Girls and swipes the picture of her supposed twin brother away from their hands.

"Please don't look at that!" she exclaimed frantically.

"Uh, why not?" Audrey asked, confused.

"Umm… it's nothing! Bye!" With that, Amanda places the picture back inside the box, picks it up, and runs into her new home, leaving the Harvey Girls completely baffled.

"That was weird," Audrey uttered.

"Why didn't she want us to look at her twin brother's picture? Very suspicious," said Dot.

"Maybe she wants to keep it a secret," Lotta guessed, "for some weird reason."

"Well, wouldn't be easily revealed if her brother comes out to play with us?"

"Good point."

Audrey steps a bit forward and rubs her chin with her thumb and index finger. "Very suspicious indeed." She squints her eyes.


	2. Coming Out

At the new Anderson home, Amanda is on her bed playing with her dolls in her new bedroom. She just finished unpacking her belongings and decorating her room. The left wall is filled with a poster of the Crush4U band and a poster of the Horn-A-Corns. The wall adjacent to the bedroom door has a window which lets people in the room view the park beside Harvey Street from the second floor of the Anderson house. Next to the right wall is Amanda's bed which is neatly covered by a pink blanket with a white stripe on top. Next to the bed on the right is Amanda's drawer where she keeps her clothes and other things such as money. Sitting on top of the drawer is an alarm clock displaying the current time: twelve o'three pm, and right next to the alarm clock is the picture of Amanda's supposed twin brother, the same picture Amanda attempted to hide from the Harvey Girls when they found it laying on the sidewalk after it fell from the box Amanda was carrying. Next to her bed on the left is her toy box containing her toys such as dolls and Horn-A-Corn plushies.

As Amanda played with her dolls, she suddenly heard a knock from her door. She looks at the doorway and sees the Harvey Girls standing there waiting to be given permission to enter the room. The girls decided to pay Amanda a visit as a way to make her feel welcome in Harvey Street like what they did to Gerald when he first moved into Harvey Street from Austland.

"May we come in?" Dot asked.

"Oh! Sure!" Amanda replied.

The Harvey Girls enter Amanda's bedroom.

"So… umm… you're the Harvey Girls, right?" asked Amanda.

"Umm… yeah? We met an hour ago!" said Audrey.

"We came here to say hi and ask if you want us to take you on a tour around Harvey Street and introduce the other kids to you?" explained Lotta.

"Oh that's very sweet of you." Amanda is flattered. "It's been a while since people our age were nice to me."

"It's been a while since other children were nice to you? That's something strange to say," stated Dot.

"Did I say that?" Amanda murmured, realizing what she said. "Sorry. It must've slipped out of my mouth." She tried to giggle it off.

"Okay. Why are you acting weird?" asked Audrey.

"Me? Weird? I'm not acting weird!" Amanda then notices her posters of Crush4U and Horn-A-Corns and thinks of a way to change the subject. "Hey! Have you heard of Crush4U and Horn-A-Corns?"

After the former and latter were mentioned, Lotta looks behind and notices the posters. "Oh my gosh!" She looks back at Amanda. "You're a Crush4U fan?!"

"Heck yes I am!" exclaimed the new girl. "They're super cute!"

"And a Horn-A-Corn fan?!"

"Got 'em right here!" Amanda held up her Horn-A-Corn plushies. "I've been watching it ever since I was a baby."

"Huh." Audrey crosses her arms. "Never knew we have so much in common." She smirks. "It's almost like you're a part of the Harvey Girls."

Amanda suddenly gasps after hearing that statement from Audrey. "Really? I'm like a part of your group?!"

"Well… not really because we just met, but we do share some common interests," observed Dot.

"EEEEEEEEEE!!!!" Amanda suddenly squealed with glee. "It's been a while since I had friends with similar interests!"

The Harvey Girls became confused again.

"Okay… that's another strange thing to say," said Dot.

"It happened again? Dang it! It keeps slipping out!" exclaimed Amanda.

"Umm… let's just forget about that for now." Lotta giggled nervously.

"Right. Before we take you out on the tour, we would like to ask you one question," said Dot.

"Ask away," replied Amanda.

"Why didn't you want us to know about your twin brother?" was Dot's question.

"Twin brother?" Amanda grew confused.

"Yeah. It's weird that you wanted to hide the fact that you have a sibling," stated Audrey.

"Sibling? I don't have a sibling. I'm an only child," claimed Amanda, genuinely confused.

"Then what about that picture of a boy that looks exactly like you?" Lotta points to the picture of Amanda's supposed twin brother.

"What pict-" Amanda finally realized what they were talking about. She did not think that they would actually ask her about her supposed twin brother. Fear began polluting her emotions, and sweat rolled down her forehead.

"Umm… why would you want to know about him?" Amanda asked, nervous. "I thought you would just forget about him."

"That isn't something we easily forget," stated Dot.

"Why are you acting weird again? Especially when we ask about your brother?" questioned Audrey.

"Umm… well…" Amanda tried to think of a way to change the subject, but she cannot think of anything.

"Come on, Amanda," Lotta pleaded. "You can tell us. We promise we won't tell anyone."

"Even though that is pointless since everyone will eventually meet your brother," added Audrey.

Amanda is too anxious to think about anything other than the Harvey Girls finding out about her true identity. She planned to keep it a secret ever since her family first told her about moving out of their old hometown; however, that plan was soon foiled when that picture fell from her box onto the sidewalk. Her secret might as well have already been revealed, so she had no choice.

Amanda sighs. "Fine. I'll tell you about my 'twin brother', but do you promise not to tell anyone else?"

The Harvey Girls nod in agreement.

"Good. So you say that the boy in the pic is my twin brother, right?"

The girls nod again.

"Well, what if I told you that…" Amanda paused for a moment, taking a deep breath, "he isn't my brother."

"Then who is he?" asked Lotta, puzzled along with Dot and Audrey.

After remaining silent for another minute, Amanda takes another deep breath before finally revealing her secret she formerly planned to secrete from the Harvey Girls, "He's me."

The Harvey Girls now look more bewildered than ever after they heard the truth.

"Come again," uttered Audrey.

"That boy in the picture is me," Amanda repeated.

"So let me get this straight, but not too straight because I'm bi." Audrey giggled at her own joke. "Either I'm going crazy, or did you actually say that you were once a boy?"

"Yes. That's exactly what I said."

"Ohhhhh… now I see why you tried to hide this from us. You were afraid that we would prejudge you because you're transgender, isn't that right, Amanda?" Dot assumed.

"Yes. You're right, Dot. I am transgender," the new girl finally admitted.

"Transgender?" Lotta is confused about the word as this is the first time she heard of such a word. "What's transgender?"

"Transgender is a term used by those whose gender identity does not match their birth sex," explained Dot.

"In other words," Amanda adds, "I was born as a boy named Armin, but I recently transitioned into a girl via hormone replacement therapy and legally changed my name to Amanda."

"Wow. I never knew you can change your gender," commented Lotta. "You're saying I can transition into a boy whenever I want?"

"No no, Lotta," Dot corrected her. "Being transgender isn't something people can choose whenever they want. Trans people are born with a condition known as gender dysphoria. Those with dysphoria feel that they are born as the wrong gender which can lead to extreme negative emotions such as depression."

"That's correct," said Amanda. "I, of course, was born with gender dysphoria, meaning I can't help but think that I was meant to be born a girl and not a boy which left me feeling depressed for years, and trust me, I HATED being Armin. That's the reason why transitioning exists. It exists for trans people to at the very least alleviate their dysphoria.”

"Ahhhh…" Lotta uttered, understanding Dot and Amanda's explanation. "Thank goodness I don’t have gender dysphoria.

"And thanks to hormone replacement therapy, I am happy." Amanda smiled. "Well… at least, I was." She grew a bit forlorn.

"Is there something wrong?" Lotta asked, growing concerned.

"It's nothing," was Amanda's reply. "I really don't want to talk about it."

"Great! Now that we know the truth, it's time for us to go!" Audrey suddenly began pushing Dot and Lotta towards the door, looking rather uncomfortable for some reason.

"But what about the tour you were gonna give me?" Amanda asked, now puzzled.

"We'll give it to you later!" Audrey told her. "Bye!" She then shuts the door.

In the hallway, Audrey stops pushing Dot and Lotta now that they are out of Amanda's view.

"Audrey, what's going on? Why did you push us out?" Dot questioned.

"Yeah. We were gonna give her a tour of Harvey Street, remember?" said Lotta.

Audrey sighs, then she admits, “Don’t get me wrong. I have nothing against trans… ummm… gender people or whatever you call them, but I… just don’t trust people like Amanda.”

“What do you mean you don’t trust people like Amanda?” said Dot, growing suspicious.

“What I mean is that… what if she’s lying about being trans?”

“Why would she lie about being trans?”

“Y’know, she, or he I should say, might be still a boy pretending to be a girl in order to sneak into girls bathrooms and do some creepy stuff.”

“That makes no logical sense. Why would Amanda waste time and money going through transition just to be a pervert?”

“Now that Dot mentioned it, Amanda wouldn’t do something like that. She seemed like a nice girl,” said Lotta.

“Well, you’ll never know,” insisted Audrey.

“Audrey, do you not realize that such claims are considered transphobic?” stated Dot.

“Transphobic?” Audrey seems to be offended by such an accusation. “I’m not transphobic! I’m just worried about girls' privacy! If I was transphobic, then I would’ve said ‘I hate trans people’ which I don’t.”

“Transphobia isn’t always that blatant,” Dot said. “You could be transphobic without knowing you’re being transphobic, like what you are being right now.”

“Again, I am not transphobic!” Audrey denounced. “Now c’mon! Our work here is done!” She leaves.

“Audrey, wait up!” Lotta ran after her.

Dot shook her head at Audrey’s behavior. She is in disbelief that Audrey would make such a transphobic accusation against Amanda, especially after just meeting her. “Looks like there was one side of Audrey I did not know about.”


	3. Spying on Amanda (Part One)

The next morning, the Harvey Girls are packing their school necessities for preparation to go to their respective schools.

"Guys, have you seen my science book?" Lotta asked, scrummaging through her school books in search for her science textbook.

As Dot was about to insert a school book into her backpack, she noticed that it is not one of her huge college textbooks. "Lotta, I found your book." She held it up.

Lotta comes over to Dot. "Oh. Thanks, Dot." She takes her book.

After Audrey inserts her math book into her school bag, she swings it back and puts it on. "Ha ha! Time for another boring school day!" she exclaimed, sounding more ecstatic than usual.

Dot and Lotta take notice of Audrey's unusual excitement. "You seem to be elated about attending school," observed Dot.

"Yeah. Every day, you were always like," Lotta starts impersonating Audrey, "Ughhhh!!! Another boring school day!" She ends her impersonation.

"Well… umm…" Audrey begins to feel nervous, "that's because… umm… there's going to be an exciting science fair during lunch, and I really want to go!"

"But the school never announced anything about a science fair," the gentle giant objected, "at least from what I remember."

"Uhh… they just announced it!" the energetic tomboy fibbed.

Dot observes Audrey with utter suspicion. She can tell by her anxious expression that she is lying. She then recalls the previous day when she and the other Harvey Girls learned that Amanda is transgender; upon learning that, Audrey suddenly grew uncomfortable and escorted them out of Amanda's bedroom where she reveals to her friends that she distrusts Amanda, thinking she is still a boy who is dressing as a girl in order to do some inappropriate actions towards girls. From this memory, Dot had created two assumptions: either it is a coincidence, or Audrey is planning to do something to Amanda.

"Audrey," Dot starts talking, "I hate to ask, but..." she pauses, "are you planning to spy on Amanda?"

Audrey's heart stopped beating for a second after she heard that question. Dot is on to her. "What? No! I'm not planning to spy on her! Why would I do that?" She tried to play it off.

"Audrey, I, along with Lotta, know you very well. Do you really think I wouldn't suspect that you're gonna spy on Amanda after revealing to us that you view her as a boy," Dot said the previous word doing air quotes, "supposedly planning to creep on girls by pretending to be a girl."

Audrey sighs in defeat. "Fine. You got me, but do you really think I wouldn't try to protect the girls in bathrooms? I mean, I'm the protector of Harvey Street for a reason! I can't take any chances!"

"Your job is to protect the street," Dot argued, "not assume someone's a creep because of his or her gender identity!"

"Like I said, I'm not taking any chances," Audrey repeated. "And before you call me transphobic, I'm not transphobic. I'm not scared of trans people. I like them! I just don't like Amanda, and only her! Now if you excuse me, I've got some laborious schooling to do." With that said, Audrey turns her back on her friends and leaves the headquarters.

"Does she realize that 'phobia' also means hatred?" Dot said, watching Audrey leave in disbelief.

Lotta slowly nods.

"Ugh! This is so not gonna end well," uttered the young prodigious fashionista.

* * *

Later at Harvey Street Elementary School, Audrey is walking through the hallway searching for her suspect. After a few moments, she spots Amanda looking quite nervous among the crowd.

"Aha. I've got you now, Amanda, or should I say, Armin." Audrey pulls out her phone and starts recording Amanda.

Moving through the crowd, Audrey follows Amanda to wherever she is going, not paying attention to her surroundings. Because of this, she accidentally bumps into Pinkeye, causing him to accidentally drop his Eiffel Tower sculpture which is made from his mucus, making the other students around him disgusted.

"Oh no! My Eiffel Tower made out of my boogers!" Pinkeye cried.

"Sorry, Pinkeye!" shouted Audrey.

The protector of Harvey Street soon stops in her tracks when she spots Amanda standing in front of the doorway separating the girls bathroom from the hallway. With one deep breath, Amanda slowly and cautiously enters the bathroom.

"Now's my chance!" Audrey runs towards the girls bathroom and slows down as soon as she is inside. She secretly watches Amanda enter one of the empty bathroom stalls. After she entered, Audrey sneaks towards the stall and lays down on the floor on her stomach. She aims her phone towards Amanda while she is doing her business in order to record her certain body part that shall not be mentioned.

"I've got you now, creep," Audrey whispered. She continues secretly recording until...

"WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING?!"

Audrey is startled by a frantic voice. She stops recording, gets up, and faces whoever screamed at her; turns out, the person was FruFru.

"Why are you recording under the stall, weirdo?" she asked.

"Listen! This isn't what it looks like!" Audrey tries to explain her situation, but FruFru soon becomes disgusted as she thinks Audrey was doing something creepy.

"EWW!!! YOU'RE DISGUSTING!" FruFru then runs off.

"FruFru! Wait!" As Audrey was about to chase after her, she suddenly heard a familiar voice.

"Audrey, what just happened here?"

Audrey turns around and sees that the person was Amanda.

"Oh! Amanda! Umm… it was nothing! It was just FruFru freaking out over a rat! That's all!" she lied, laughing nervously.

"Oh. Strange how she was talking to a rat."

"Uh, yeah. What a weirdo, am I right?" Audrey lied again.

"Well, I better get going. I don't want to be late for class." Amanda walks over to the sink and proceeds to wash her hands before leaving the bathroom.

"Alright. See ya!" Audrey bid her new schoolmate goodbye. "Phew! That was close. Although, I can't say the same for FruFru. Speaking of Amanda, which class is she gonna be in?"


	4. Spying on Amanda (Part Two)

"She's in MY CLASS?!"

Audrey puts on a face of utter shock after finding out who the new student to her class is. Standing right next to Mrs. Walter, Audrey and Lotta's teacher, is none other than Amanda Anderson.

"Um, hi again." She nervously waved at her new classmates, most of which are the Harvey Street children who she already met the previous day.

"Now I would like all of you to make her feel welcome in this class and school," Mrs. Walter told her class. "Remember that Harvey Street Elementary is a place welcoming of diversity and tolerance."

"Yes, Mrs. Walter!" the students agreed willfully.

"I knew I would count on my wonderful class," the teacher stated proudly. She then looks back at Amanda and tells her, "Amanda, dear, why don't you sit on that empty seat between Lotta and Audrey?"

Amanda looks at the empty seat between Lotta, who is happily waving at her, and Audrey, who looked rather indifferent.

"Um, okay." Amanda approaches her new seat and slowly takes a seat.

"Welcome to Harvey Street School, Amanda!" Lotta welcomed her new classmate and friend in her typical cheerful manner.

"Um, thanks," uttered the trans girl.

"Trust me! You'll LOVE IT here!" exclaimed the snuggler and cuddler of Harvey Street.

"Everyone here is kind to each other!"

After saying that, she is suddenly hit on the back of her head by a spitball. She looks behind and sees that it was the usual suspect: Melvin.

"Got ya!" Melvin exclaimed before he laughs teasingly along with the rest of the Bloogey Boys.

"Well, not everyone," Lotta told Amanda. "Besides that, we also have amazing clubs! We have an art club, a book club, a dance club, a cooking club, a Horn-A-Corn club, a Crush4U club, a Booger-Sculpting club-"

"Alright, Lotta. That's enough," Mrs. Walter interrupted. "You can take her on a tour when it's recess. It's class time."

"Right." Lotta giggled nervously.

Meanwhile, Audrey is having thoughts about spying on Amanda later during the day.

So, Mrs. Walter doesn't know that Armin is a boy pretending to be a girl. Fooling a teacher? That's gotta be one of the most devious acts you've ever committed, Armin. Not even the baddest troublemakers in this school can pull that off. Oh you are in great trouble once I expose who you really are. Audrey then makes a really evil grin.

"Um, why are you smiling like that?" Amanda asked, having noticed Audrey grinning sinisterly.

"Oh! Umm… nothing!" Audrey told her.

* * *

Later during recess, Amanda is sitting on a bench alone scrolling through social media on her smartphone. Unbeknownst to her, a certain someone is spying on her. Hiding behind the tree, which is behind the bench, is Audrey who is recording whatever is displayed on Amanda's phone screen. She zooms in her camera to get a better look at the phone screen.

"Hehe. Let's see what kind of creepy stuff you look at, Armin," she whispered.

All of a sudden, Audrey is hit in the back of her head by a spitball. She looks back as sees Melvin, who is holding a straw next to his mouth, and the rest of the Bloogey Boys.

"Yo, Aud," Melvin began, "wanna hang out with me and the boys? We're gonna spit some balls at the principal."

"Umm… sorry, but I'm… umm… a little busy," Audrey replied, growing anxious.

"With what?"

"Umm… well…"

Melvin then takes notice of Amanda's curly blonde hair and giant pink bow. "Oh. I see what this is. You're spying on the new girl."

As soon as those words are uttered, Amanda stops scrolling on her phone and freezes. Seeing this, Audrey runs away from the tree and pushes the Bloogey Boys away. As soon as they are gone, Amanda looks behind and sees no one. She shrugs and goes back to searching through social media.

Now outside of Amanda's view, Audrey stops pushing the boys.

"Hey! What gives?" asked Fredo.

"Don't give me away!" Audrey said, getting a little upset.

"Oh. So you were spying on Amanda," said Pinkeye.

"But why?" asked Melvin.

Audrey sighed, knowing she had no choice. "Fine. I'll tell you. I'm spying on Amanda because, and I know this will sound crazy, she is not actually a girl."

The Bloogey Boys stared at Audrey like she was crazy.

"Uh, she looks like a girl to me," said Fredo.

"That's what she wants you to think, but she is actually TRANSGENDER!"

"Transgender?" Pinkeye is confused by the term.

"It's a person who's current gender is the opposite of the gender they were born as or something like that," Audrey explains. "Amanda is transgender, meaning she was born a boy but turned into a girl or something like that."

The boys stare blankly at Audrey for a second, bewildered about what she just explained; suddenly, they burst out laughing. Audrey looks confused, not knowing why the boys are suddenly laughing.

"Good one, Audrey!" Melvin laughs.

"Everyone knows you can't change gender! It's biologically impossible!" Fredo laughed.

"That's gotta be the funniest joke I've ever heard!" Pinkeye laughs.

"Wait! No! It's true! Amanda told me herself!" Audrey insisted.

"Audrey," Melvin places his hand on her shoulder, "you are one of the funniest people I've ever met. Where did you come up with such a funny joke?"

"Yeah. Where did you come up with the idea that Amanda was once a boy?" asked Pinkeye.

"But it's not a joke! What I'm saying is true!"

"Wow. You sure are persistent on the joke." Melvin then grabs Audrey's hand. "Now c'mon! We got a principal to peddle with spitballs!" He starts dragging her.

Audrey sighs in defeat, knowing there is no way to convince the Bloogey Boys to not let her join in on the pranking. I guess the spying will have to wait, and the Bloogey Boys will be sorry once I show them proof that Amanda is "transgender" aka a boy pretending to be a girl.

* * *

Later during lunch, Amanda is eating her lunch at a two-seat table with her new friend Lotta.

"So how was your school day, Amanda?" Lotta asked.

"Surprisingly, not bad," Amanda takes a bite of her sandwich, "but that's mainly because I've never told anyone, not even the principal or teacher, that I'm trans."

"Hey. Don't feel bad about being trans. Dot, Audrey, and I have your back. We promised we won't tell anyone you're transgender."

Little did both Lotta and Amanda know that Audrey is inside the vents above the school cafeteria secretly eavesdropping on their conversation and recording it with her phone.

"Oh that's what you think Lotta, but after gathering evidence that Amanda isn't a real transgender, I'll make sure the secret is out," whispered Audrey.

"So I was wondering," Lotta asks, "where did you come from?"

"I came from a town called Oswaldville," replied Amanda. "It's a pretty beautiful place if you ask me. It's mainly a suburban place with a huge flower field surrounding it. It's home to all flowers known to mankind!"

"Come on! Don't talk about a boring town with boring flowers!" Audrey complained. "Talk about you pretending to be a girl so I can record it as evidence! Oh wait. You won't reveal yourself that easily. I see you, Armin. I see you."

Unbeknownst to Audrey, the tile which she is crawling on is loosely screwed meaning it cannot support her weight for much longer.

"Does the flower field have cute bunnies?" asked Lotta.

"Yep. It houses the cutest bunnies you'll ever find," confirmed Amanda.

Lotta squealed with glee.

"And I've heard that one of the voice actresses who voices one of the Horn-A-Corns lives there!" added the trans girl.

Lotta squealed louder.

"One of the actresses who plays one of the Horn-A-Corns lives in Amanda's hometown? Cool! Thank goodness I recorded that! And too bad she has to live in the same town as the girl pretender," said Audrey.

Suddenly, Audrey falls down through the vent with the weak tile. The nails that loosely screwed the tile can no longer support Audrey's weight, so it gave in. Audrey lands hard on the floor with the tile, catching everyone's attention including Lotta and Amanda's.

"Audrey?" Lotta and Amanda said in puzzlement.

"Oh. Hey, Lotta. Hey, Amanda. Nice lunch we're having?" She laughed nervously.

* * *

Later after school, Amanda is taking a stroll through the park as a break from homework. As she strolls, she suddenly stops as she has a feeling that she is being watched. "Either I feel like someone's watching me, or it's just my paranoia." She shrugs and resumes walking.

Unbeknownst to her, Audrey is hiding behind the bushes and following her. As Amanda walks, Audrey sneaks from one bush to another, hoping she would catch her in some predatory act.

"Where are you going, Armin? To the girl's bathroom to prey on some girls?" Audrey said as she followed her.

Suddenly, as she hides behind another bush, she falls through what appears to be a sinkhole. She lands on the ground, her hair covered in water.

"What the?! A sinkhole?!"

Just then, Audrey hears some raccoon noises and looks up to see the Harvey Street raccoons surrounding the sinkhole and looking down at Audrey with grins of triumph. Turns out, it was a raccoon trap.

"Darn you, raccoons!" Audrey shook her fist. "You ruined my epic spy moment!"

"You okay down there?" She suddenly heard a familiar voice which caused the raccoons to run away. She looks up and sees that the person was Amanda.

"Geez. First, you fell down through the vents; now you fell down through a sinkhole? You must be having a rough day."

"Uh, yeah." Audrey smiled nervously, hiding the fact that she was spying on Amanda. "Now please help me up!"


	5. Exposing Amanda

Later that afternoon, Dot and Lotta are taking a stroll through the park

"How was the test, Dot?" asked Lotta.

"It was pretty hard, but I think I did well enough to earn at least an A- although I don't take A-'s too lightly."

"You passed?! Congratulations, Dot!"

"No no, Lotta. The exams haven't been graded yet. The grades won't be released until next week."

"Oh. But… why?" asked the gentle giant.

"Because my professor needs time to grade each exam which is a lot of work," explained Dot.

"Ah," uttered Lotta.

"Anyway, where's Audrey? She hasn't arrived at HQ yet, and, according to her school's schedule, it's been three hours since school ended."

"Maybe she went straight home to do some homework," Lotta guessed.

"That's doubtful. Audrey doesn't do her school assignments right away, or doesn't do them at all for that matter," Dot assumes. "I hope she didn't get in trouble for… you know what."

"I know what what?" asked Lotta, confused by what Dot meant.

"You know, Audrey spying on Amanda because she thinks Amanda's a boy pretending to be a girl solely because of her gender identity."

"Oh yeah. That." Lotta then realizes, "That explains why she was sneaking in the vents during lunch."

"She WHAT?!" Dot exclaimed in unison after hearing what Lotta just stated.

Suddenly, the two Harvey Girls start hearing what sounded like Audrey's voice but amplified by a microphone. "Attention! Attention! Everyone, may I have your attention please!"

"Uh oh," the Harvey Girls uttered in worried tones, knowing what was about to happen.

In the middle of the park, Audrey is talking on a wireless microphone connected to a wireless boombox. Her loud, microphonic voice had caught the attention of the Harvey Street children who were coming over to see what was going on.

"Thank you! Thank you for coming! Now I'm here to tell you all something so important yet so disturbing, so listen up!"

Soon, Dot and Lotta arrived with worried expressions dominating their faces; around the same time, Amanda arrived unaware of what was about to occur.

"What am I talking about, you ask?" Audrey resumes. "Well, I'm talking about a secret a certain someone has been hiding from all of you all along."

"I knew it," said Dot as her fear was realized.

Amanda, as well as everyone else, watched Audrey in utter confusion.

"Who is that certain someone, you ask? Well I'm talking about none other than… Amanda Anderson!"

Everyone, especially Amanda, gasped in absolute shock.

"ME?!" Amanda is now utterly scared.

Seeing that Audrey is about to reveal Amanda's gender identity, Dot and Lotta run towards her. Dot takes the microphone away from Audrey as an attempt to prevent her from outing Amanda.

"Nothing to see here, folks!" Dot immediately told the audience. "Audrey is just being crazy right now! We'll take her home now so she can rest."

Amanda is soon relieved to see Dot and Lotta protecting her identity.

Then, Audrey takes back the microphone from Dot. "What are you both doing? You're ruining the big moment!"

Dot takes the microphone again. "You, along with Lotta and me, promised to keep Amanda's gender identity a secret!"

Audrey retakes the microphone again. "Well I lied because I don't want Armin to suspect that I was planning to out him out! People need to learn who he really is!"

Dot takes back the microphone once again. "Firstly, you're deadnaming and using the wrong pronouns; secondly, there is nothing wrong with being TRANSGENDER!"

The word echoed through the park like through a cave, reaching every single pair of ears. The audience let out another gasp of shock upon hearing the word, but nobody was as shocked as Amanda. Her secret had been exposed to lots of other kids, and now they know her real identity. Dot covered her mouth, realizing what she had done. Audrey, meanwhile, takes this opportunity to out Amanda even more.

"Yeah! That's right! Amanda is transgender! Or at least that's what she wants you to think! She claims to be born a boy who turned into a girl, but in reality she is still a boy! And I have PROOF!"

Audrey pulls out her phone and turns it on. She searches through her gallery and clicks on the picture displaying Amanda's… body part that shall not be mentioned. She then shows the picture to Dot and Lotta who both immediately demonstrated reactions of disgust upon viewing the picture. Next, Audrey walks over to each kid and shows them the photo; like Dot and Lotta, each child was disgusted by it, especially FruFru who did not hesitate to throw up upon viewing the obscene photo. Amanda is now feeling a mix of extreme embarrassment and extreme fear. Everyone knows that she is transgender, and she is now fearful of how everyone will view her.

After Audrey showed the photo to everyone, she resumed her tirade, "Do you wanna know why he is dressing as a girl? Because he wants to do some creepy stuff to you!"

All the girls, except Dot, Lotta, and Amanda, gasp in horror.

"Yeah! He is a creep! I mean, why else would he dress up as a girl?"

"So… that's how you see me, huh?" Amanda suddenly spoke, catching Audrey and everyone else's attention. "So you see me as a creep pretending to be trans and proceed to tell everyone despite promising that you won't tell anyone? Welp. Thank you for telling me who you really are, Audrey."

"Uhh… what are you getting at?" asked Audrey, confused.

"What I'm saying is that… you broke my trust, Audrey." Amanda is on the verge of crying. "You lied to me about keeping my identity a secret. Do you have any idea how much this affects me?!"

Audrey, along with everyone else, just watched Amanda in confusion.

"Wanna really know why I kept my transness a secret?" Amanda resumes. "Because I was afraid people would _bully_ me because I'm transgender. You have _no idea_ how much bullying and harassment I was forced to deal with back in my hometown; heck, that's the reason why my family moved here in the first place. To get away from hateful and intolerant people. But now, thanks to you we moved for nothing." Tears begin forming. "I don't know what your deal is or what I have done to you to make you do this to me, but you've proved to me that even the seemingly accepting people will betray me and out me so I can be forced to experience more bullying and harassment, and that sucks because I thought you were a good person, Audrey, but it turns out you're nothing but a bully." Tears rolled down her cheeks. "A sick, disgusting, intolerant, transphobic bully!"

Amanda then turns around and runs away crying. Audrey, now feeling regretful, begins running after her. "Amanda, wait! I didn't know!" She then stops as she takes notice of the kids leaving as the whole slandering of Amanda is now over. "Wait! Come back! This was all… umm… a joke! Yeah! A joke! Hahaha! Got ya! Hahaha!"

"I guess you were right Audrey," Melvin told her as he walks away with the Bloogey Boys.

"You weren't joking about Amanda being 'transgender' after all," added Fredo.

Audrey, now really regretful and fearful, turns to her fellow Harvey Girls for help. "Guys, you gotta help me fix this! You both know I didn't know Amanda was just trying to protect herself from bullies! I didn't know!"

"I'm sorry, Audrey. I know the Harvey Girls are about helping each other out," Dot explains, "but all of this happened because of your prejudice towards trans people, so you're gonna fix this problem on your own." With that, Dot leaves.

"What about you, Lotta? Will you help me?" Audrey pleaded.

"Actually, I'm siding with Dot on this one. What you did was really mean. You've let your prejudice get the better of you, so now it's time for you to get the better of your prejudice." With that, Lotta leaves.

Audrey just stood there, shocked that her friends refused to help her with her situation, but then she grew to understand why. She assumed that Amanda was a predator after she came out as trans to her, and she let her fears get the better of her, and now people will potentially treat her differently because of her actions. Amanda will now face more bullying and harassment for being transgender because of her prejudice. Audrey stares down at the grassy ground in utter guilt. She turns around and walks away, reflecting on her actions.


	6. Amanda's Past

Audrey takes a slow stroll through the park wearing a face of utter guilt, her hands inside her pockets. The sun is starting to set, and the pink clear sky is slowly turning orange. By this time, everyone (except Audrey, of course) had gone home to get ready for bed with Audrey's false accusations of Amanda pretending to be a girl to creep on the girls fresh on their minds. After ascertaining that Amanda just wanted to avoid bullying and harassment for being transgender, Audrey felt nothing but regret. She let her fears manifest themselves, and now a vulnerable child she barely knows will face mockery because of it.

As she strolls, her ears suddenly pick up sounds of a little girl crying in utter despair. She stops walking and starts following the sound, leading her to a bush where the child is crying behind it. The energetic tomboy takes a peek behind the bush, revealing Amanda curled to a ball sobbing.

"Amanda! There you are!" Audrey yelled, somewhat glad to have finally found the person she wronged.

The trans girl pauses weeping, having heard the familiar voice, and looks up to see Audrey, the transphobic bully that broke her promise about not telling everyone she is transgender and proceeding to lie to the entire street about her being a creep.

"Ugh. Seriously?" Amanda uttered in disgust, clearly holding a grudge against the protector of Harvey Street. "Leave me alone." She faces away from Audrey. Just simply looking at her face causes the bile in Amanda's stomach to churn in a revulsive manner.

Audrey runs behind the bush, intending to comfort Amanda. "Wait! Before you do anything insane, I just want to apologize. I promise I won't call you a creep."

"Tch. As if I would believe you," Amanda told her in a begrudging tone. "Now go away before I make you regret approaching me."

Audrey felt her heart being ripped to shreds after hearing that from Amanda. While it hurts to learn that Amanda holds a grudge against her, Audrey is well aware that she despises her for a good reason.

"Look," Audrey sits next to Amanda, "I know you're mad at me, and you have the right to be. What I've done to you just now was wrong and horrible, and I promise that I'll do anything to fix my mistakes."

Amanda remains silent, still curled into a ball.

"I guess my oath wasn't enough to convince you to talk to me, huh?"

Amanda does not utter any single word, nor does she move any single muscle.

"I was wrong. You're not a creep or a boy pretending to be a girl."

No word or movement from Amanda.

"Alright! I get it! You're angry, and I completely understand! I just want to know how can I make it up to you? How can I get people to like you again? How can I get you to like me again? I'll do anything to make things right with you again! I'm serious!"

Still no answer from the trans girl. By this point, Audrey has now understood the message. Amanda has no intention of talking to the person that broke her trust and heart. Audrey slowly stood, staring down at the grassy ground gloomily. As Audrey was about to leave, however, Amanda finally speaks:

"Fine. If it gets you to leave me alone, then we can talk."

Audrey felt her lips curling upward upon hearing Amanda talk. She sits back down.

"You know, I've never met a transphobe who's willing to change his or her ways," Amanda admits. "The other transphobes I've met never hesitated to bully me or even regretted their actions. They all had the intent of making me not feel welcome."

"I hate to ask, but what did they do?" asked Audrey.

"Some very terrible things."

The scene suddenly transitions to a hospital room where a woman with curly blonde hair is resting on the hospital bed. Standing next to the bed on the left is a doctor who is carrying a baby who looked similar to Amanda. Standing on the other side is a man with flat blonde hair wearing a plain white shirt and blue jeans. The woman on the hospital bed is Amanda's mother, and the man is Amanda's father. The baby the doctor is holding is Amanda back when she was a baby boy.

"As you know," Amanda's voice narrates, "I was born as a boy named Armin."

Baby Armin is sound asleep as the doctor gently hands him to his mother. His father takes a step closer to get a better look at his newborn son. Both parents are proud that they now have a child.

The scene then transitions years later to Armin's bedroom in his old home at Oswaldville where Armin, now a young child, is staring at the viewer with a happy face.

"Fast forward to years later. I am now a young boy living with a happy family in our happy home in our happy town of Oswaldville. Most of the time, I had a happy life; however…"

Armin's smile slowly curls downward, turning the smile into a frown.

"...there were a few problems."

Next, the scene changes to Armin standing in front of his mirror wearing a pink dress looking content.

"You see, I wasn't interested in typical boy stuff. I was more into typical girl stuff. I would find myself trying on my mom's old dresses she wore when she was a little girl."

Then, the scene shows little Armin collecting Barbie dolls and showing them to his mother.

"I lacked interest in collecting boy toys and collected girl toys instead."

After that, the scene cuts to Armin in the living room watching Horn-A-Corns, a fictional television series aimed at young girls.

"I would also find myself watching girl shows."

The scene then zooms in towards Armin's face which slowly morphs into a face of shame.

"While I did not feel shame in showing interest in girl things, it also left me with feelings of… distress. Distraught."

The scene cuts back to Armin staring at his mirror, only he is now striped into his underwear. He is staring at his male body with utter shame.

"I've felt uncomfortable with my male body. I felt like I was born the wrong gender. I felt that I was meant to be born a girl."

Armin's face slowly turns angry.

"I hated my body. I loathed being a boy. I despised my maleness. I wanted to switch bodies."

The scene transitions to Armin walking up to his parents and telling them about his current feelings.

"I couldn't take it anymore, so I told my parents about it, and immediately took me to a therapist."

At the therapy session, the therapist told Armin and his parents that he is diagnosed with gender dysphoria.

"After the session, the therapist concluded that I was diagnosed with gender dysphoria and told me and my parents that the only way to treat it is to transition; in other words, I have to transition into a girl."

The scene then shows the progression of Armin's transition from a boy into a girl.

"So I began transitioning. I've taken hormone replacement therapy; that is, I've taken testosterone blockers and received estrogen. My voice grew softer, and I had my name legally changed to Amanda. The transitioning took months, but eventually, it was completed."

Then, the scene transitions to Armin, now a girl named Amanda wearing her current clothing, staring once again at her mirror with pride.

"I've never felt this happy. I am now the gender I was meant to be. No, scratch that. I was always the gender I meant to be. I was just not born physically and biologically the gender I meant to be. Sadly, the happiness did not last."

The scene cuts to Amanda walking through the hallway of the school she previously attended before moving to Harvey Street. As Amanda walked to her class, the other students could not help but stare at her funny. The staring made Amanda feel uncomfortable.

"At my old school, people would stare at me as if I were some sort of freak, which made me uncomfortable."

Suddenly, Amanda was stopped by a group of children.

"I was often stopped by a group of classmates, and they asked me some very inappropriate questions."

Later, Amanda is seen being literally kicked out of the girls' bathroom. A female child comes out and nods her head no at Amanda before slamming the bathroom door shut.

"I was also not allowed inside the girls' bathroom. The other girls didn't let me in because 'boys' weren't allowed in for a reason, so I was forced to use the boys' bathroom which often triggered my dysphoria."

Inside the boys' bathroom, Amanda is seen being teased by the boys in the boys' bathroom, poking fun at her looks and mocking her for thinking she is a girl.

"When there were boys inside, they would often tease me about dressing up as a girl, even calling me a creep."

Next, the scene shows Amanda being cornered to the bathroom wall by a group of big boys. The boys cracked their knuckles, ready to harm Amanda.

"I was even once beaten up because of it."

Afterward, Amanda goes to the principal to tell him about the bullying she dealt with, but he doesn't seem to take it seriously.

"I've told my teacher and principal about the bullying I've experienced, but they did nothing."

Then, the scene cuts to Amanda standing outside of her home staring in absolute shock. On the wall is graffiti that shows some inappropriate and hateful things about Amanda and trans people in general such as Amanda being peddled with rocks, famous transgender people hanging from a tree with a noose wrapped around their necks, and the phrase "Death to tr*****s!" sprayed all over.

"The harassment wasn't limited at school, however, as I would often find graffiti stating some messed-up things about me and trans people in general. I would be sent death threats from people at school. The harassment and intolerance had gotten so bad to the point that my family had no choice but to move out."

The last scene of Amanda's past shows Amanda's family car driving away from their old home following a moving truck. Amanda takes one last look at her old home before looking away in absolute shame.

The scene finally transitions back to the present day where Amanda is sitting behind the bush telling Audrey, who is sitting next to her, her past.

"And here I am," Amanda concludes, "sitting next to a transphobic bully who now resumed my suffering."

Having listened to Amanda's story of her past, Audrey felt more guilty than ever. Many horrible actions have been committed against Amanda from being beaten up to being threatened with death, and thanks to her actions Amanda will now face more threats of violence and death. If only she knew about Amanda's past and never prejudged her, she would have never told every Harvey child that Amanda is trans.

Amanda slowly stands up. "There. Now you know my backstory, now leave me be." She began heading back home.

Noticing that Amanda is leaving, Audrey breaks away from her regretful silence and immediately stands up. "Amanda, wait! You haven't told me how I can make it up to you!"

Amanda stops in her tracks. "Sorry, Audrey, but that's for you to think of, not me. And in case you're wondering, no I don't forgive you."

Audrey looks down in utter guilt.

"But," Amanda resumes, "I am considering to forgive you because you have shown me that you can change, unlike the ones I've told you about in my backstory.

Audrey brightens up a bit, but she still feels regretful.

"Now if you excuse me, I need to get home, and you should too." With that, Amanda leaves for her home, leaving Audrey to stand there alone in utter sadness.


	7. Bathroom Trouble

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Transgender Awareness Week, everyone!

The next morning at school, Amanda is in the hallway standing a few feet away from the girls bathroom. Ever since Audrey outed her to the entire street, she felt more apprehensive than ever. She feared that one of the Harvey Street children would stop her and force her to use the boys bathroom. But she cannot let her fear get the best of her as she really needs to do her business, so she takes a slow deep breath and slowly begins walking towards the girls bathroom. As Amanda was about to enter the bathroom, however, her fear is soon realized as a girl suddenly puts her arm in front of the doorway, blocking the entrance to the girls bathroom. The girl preventing Amanda from entering the bathroom is FruFru, one of the children who listened to Audrey's slander the previous day.

"Uh, where do you think you're going?" asked FruFru sternly.

"Umm… to the bathroom?" Amanda replied with a mix of confusion and fear.

"Sorry, but this is the  _ girls'  _ bathroom. The  _ boys'  _ bathroom is that way." FruFru points to the boys' bathroom which is right next to the girls' bathroom.

"But… I am a girl. I'm a girl just like you." Amanda insists.

"Um, no you're not. You're a boy. Dressing up as a girl doesn't magically make you a girl."

"I can assure you I am not a boy pretending to be a girl. What Audrey said about me yesterday are pure lies."

"Oh yeah? Then how can you explain Audrey's photo of your… ummm… peewee?" FruFru questioned. "Hmm? Can you explain that, creep?"

"First off, I have no idea why Audrey took an interest in what's behind my skirt; secondly, some girls have… peewees. It's a fact!" Amanda argued.

"Are you that delusional?! Everyone knows that boys have peewees and girls don't! It's basic biology!"

"Sex and gender are two different things. Sex is related to your… umm… privacy and physical appearance, and gender is related to this." Amanda points to her head. "In other words, a peewee determines that one's a male, not a boy; whatever matches what the brain identifies determines whether a person is a boy or girl."

Suddenly, FruFru bursts laughing. "So you're saying that your feelings determine what gender you are? Ha! That's gotta be one of the dumbest yet funniest things I've ever heard!"

"It's true! You can literally look up the evidence online!"

FruFru stops laughing. "Face it, Amanda. You're not a girl, meaning you're not allowed inside the girls bathroom. Bathrooms are separated by gender for a reason. It's to prevent potential creeps like you from doing creepy stuff to us girls."

"I am not a creep, and I have no intention of doing creepy things to you or other girls. All I want is to use the bathroom, that's it!"

"Ugh. You 'trans' people are nothing but delusional freakazoids who can't accept reality," FruFru rants. "You all think you can change your gender, but in reality you CAN'T! Boys are boys and always will be; girls are girls and always will be, and the same goes for you, Amanda. You are a boy, and you will always be a boy. No amount of makeup, doing your hair, or dresses will ever change that. Why is it so hard for people like you to accept that?"

"And why is it so hard for transphobes like you to accept that fact that transgender people exist?" a third voice told FruFru.

Confused, FruFru and Amanda look at the direction where the voice came from and see Audrey slowly approaching the former. "FruFru, just let Amanda in the bathroom!" she demanded. "She's not hurting you by simply peeing or pooping on the toilet!"

"First off," FruFru began, "eww; second off, didn't you yourself tell me and everyone else that Amanda is a boy pretending to be a girl? You even showed me that picture of Amanda's… peewee! Why are you suddenly defending this freak?!"

"Because what I did was wrong, okay?" Audrey admits. "Instead of getting to know Amanda better, I immediately judged her the moment I met her! Like what you're doing now!"

"Well sorry for being a woman of facts! You can't change your gender!"

"And neither can Amanda! She has always been a girl! Even at birth! She was born a girl who happens to have a male body! Also, biology and psychology proved that transgender people can exist. How do I know? I've asked Dot about it, and she's the science person, so I trust her. You can ask her yourself!"

"Ugh. My brain cannot comprehend the dumb stuff you just spat out to me. Fine. If you're gonna let a boy inside the girls bathroom, then so be it. Not my problem if she suddenly does some creepy stuff to you." And with that FruFru leaves for class.

Audrey turns around to face Amanda. "You okay, Amanda? Did she hurt you?"

"No," Amanda replied, a little scared.

"I'm sorry about FruFru. She is not always like this although she can be very mean and judgy."

"That's okay. You don't need to apologise." stated Amanda. "Also, it's not like she's the only one."

"What do you mean?"

"The other kids have also attacked or feared me for being trans. When I left my house, the Bloogey Boys wouldn't stop asking me inappropriate questions and harassing me. When I tried to talk to a girl they always ran away from me. And the worst part, Lucretia kept asking me to show her my… you know what."

"Ugh," Audrey uttered in disgust. "That definitely sounds like Lucretia."

"Guess why all of that happened?" Amanda glares at Audrey.

"Oh. Right." Audrey looks down in guilt.

"Although, you did defend me from FruFru," Amanda admitted, "something nobody has ever done. That shows me that you can change."

"Aw shucks." Audrey blushed.

Amanda sighs sadly. "Sadly, I can't say the same to the other kids."

Suddenly, Audrey gets an idea. "Hey! I think I know how I can get the whole street to accept you again!


	8. The Apology

Later after school, Audrey and Amanda are at the middle of the park ready to call the attention of the Harvey Street children. Behind them is a boombox which the microphone Audrey is holding is wirelessly connected to. Audrey looks at Amanda, and the trans girl gives her a nod of approval. Amanda turns on the boombox, and Audrey starts speaking:

"Um, testing one two! Testing one two! May I have your attention, everyone?"

Soon, the entire street, including Dot and Lotta, come over, confused about what is going on now. The two Harvey girls look rather unimpressed, still upset at Audrey for having the audacity to spit hateful lies about Amanda the previous day.

As all of the kids are listening, Audrey resumes talking, "Good afternoon, everyone! I hope you're having a great day! Now does remember our good ol' pal Amanda here?" She points at Amanda who waved nervously at the audience.

Immediately, the children express their dislike and disgust towards Amanda, having remembered the lies Audrey told them yesterday. Some gave a look of disgust while others gave a nod of disapproval. The negative reactions made Amanda turn red with embarrassment and shame. Dot and Lotta, on the other hand, grew worried that Audrey might spew more slander about Amanda.

"Well," Audrey continues, starting to feel guilty, "I'm gonna tell you the real truth about her."

The children, especially Dot and Lotta, soon grew confused about what Audrey meant by "real truth".

"Real truth?" Dot asked.

Lotta shrugs.

Audrey proceeds, "Remember the things I've said about Amanda yesterday? Well… they were all lies." She looks down in shame.

Soon, the audience becomes restless. The kids began whispering amongst one another, wondering why Audrey would lie about Amanda.

"Now, now. Settle down," Audrey told her audience. "I know what you're thinking. Aud, why would you lie about Amanda? Well… that's because I'm a prejudiced nobody. You see, when Amanda first came out to me, Dot, and Lotta as transgender, I immediately assumed she was a creepy boy pretending to be a girl. Instead of getting to know her, I prejudged her based on her gender identity which led me to spit lies about her which hurt her; now all of you hate her because of my lies. Now here is the truth: Amanda is not a creepy boy, or a boy for that matter. She is not a boy dressing up as a girl. She is a girl. A girl whose gender identity does not match her birth sex, aka transgender. Why is Amanda a transgender? Because she was born with something called gender dysphoria. It's some sort of condition where the brain feels it's in the wrong body because it's gender identity doesn't match the birth sex. For example, before Amanda transitioned, her brain was that of a girl, but it was in the body of a boy. As a result, Amanda felt like she wasn't meant to be born a boy and was meant to be born a girl, so she transitioned. Amanda has no intentions of hurting girls. She just wanted her brain to match with her body."

Suddenly, Fredo raises his hand.

"Yes, Fredo?"

"I appreciate that you've admitted you lied and told us the truth, but how can you explain… you know what?"

"What do you mean, you know what?"

"Y'know, Amanda's…….."

"Ohhhh…." Audrey understood. "Well, I have no explanation sadly, but," she turns to Dot, "I know someone who does."

Instantly, everyone turns their attention towards Dot. She makes a small but determined smile and approaches Audrey. She gently takes the microphone from Audrey's hands and faces the audience.

"Why does Amanda still have her… privacy, you ask?" Dot began. "Well, there's a scientific explanation for that. You see, sex and gender are two different things. Sex refers to your whatever is hidden inside your pants, your chromosomes, your muscle mass, your bone density, and so on; gender refers to what your brain feels. Male and female are sexes; man or boy and woman or girl are genders. While gender and sex commonly match, there are rare cases where gender and sex don't match. You see, the feminization or masculinization of the brain is independent from the development of the sex organs. Gender dysphoria is caused by the brain's overexposure or underexposure to testosterone which is the case for Amanda."

"Ohhhhh…" Fredo exclaims. "Thanks, Dot."

"You're welcome." Dot hands the microphone back to Audrey and walks off.

"Now that we got the science out of the way, let's continue!" Audrey resumes, "After transitioning, Amanda feft happier. At least, she was supposed to be. You see, after she transitioned, her classmates at school began bullying her. They viewed her as a freak and a creep. It has gotten so bad to the point where she received death threats which caused her family to move out of her hometown and move into Harvey Street in the first place."

Audrey then slowly turns to Amanda.

"And because of that, I'm here to apologize." Audrey takes a deep breath. "Amanda, I'm sorry I prejudged you before getting to know you. I was so overprotective that I immediately assumed that you're a creep because you're transgender. I had no idea what being trans was like, but instead of learning about it I let my ignorance get the better of me. I know this isn't enough to make up for what I did, but this is the least I can do. I want you to be treated like everyone else here regardless of your gender identity." Audrey hands the mic to Amanda. "So… do you forgive me?"

Amanda remained silent. It may be true that what Audrey did yesterday was horrible, but after she defended her from FruFru and told everyone the truth, there was no way Amanda would not forgive her. "I do," she uttered.

Audrey was a bit shocked that Amanda forgave her this easily, but her surprised look soon turns into a warm smile. Then, both girls engage in a hug. The children, except FruFru, all begin cheering for them. Dot and Lotta exchange happy looks and also engage in a hug exclaiming "Yes!" FruFru, on the other hand, just rolled her eyes, not caring about what Audrey and Dot stated. The truth has been revealed. Everyone now knows how being transgender works, and there is no doubt that Amanda will now be accepted by everyone; well, except for FruFru that is.

"Welcome to Harvey Street, Amanda," Audrey said.

"Thank you, Audrey."


	9. Becoming a Harvey Girl

The next day, Amanda is at her new home relaxing on the living room couch. Her head is laying on her hands, and her right leg is in a triangular position with her left leg crossing it. As she rests, she suddenly hears a knock on the front door. Amanda stands up and walks over to the door and opens it, revealing to be the Harvey Girls.

"Sup, Amanda!" Audrey greeted as the other Harvey Girls waved their hands.

"Oh. Hey, Audrey. Hey, Dot. Hey, Lotta," Amanda greeted back. "What brings you girls here?"

"Well, now that Audrey told everyone the truth about you, and you both reconciled afterwards, how was your day so far?" Dot asked.

"It was great!" cheered the trans girl. "People treated me nicely! The Bloogey Boys did not question me not even once, the other girls were comfortable around me and even spoke to me, and Lucretia… well… she still kept asking me about my… ding dong."

The Harvey Girls immediately knew what Amanda was referring to when she said "ding dong".

"Riiight," uttered Dot uncomfortably.

"Anyway, glad that everyone is treating you nicely!" exclaimed Lotta. "Here at Harvey Street we don't care if someone is white, black, brown, gay, straight, bi, ace, Christian, Jewish, trans, and… well… anything they identify as. As long as we're nice and treat everyone well, we're all good."

"Because here at Harvey Street we embrace diversity, multiculturalism, equality, and love," adds Dot. "It says so in the Harvey Street constitution." She looks at the reader, "Yes. We have our own constitution. It's based on the US Constitution written by our Founding Fathers back in 1787."

"And now that we know you're doing okay, Audrey has something to tell you," Lotta said to Amanda.

"Alright. Let's hear it," said Amanda.

"Amanda," Audrey began, "I know you've already forgave me for the incident that shall never be mentioned because the readers know what incident we're talking about by this point, but as a continuation of my apology are you interested in becoming a Harvey Girl?"

Amanda's face brightens up after hearing that. "You want me to become a part of the Harvey Girls?"

"Do you how to be fun?" questioned Dot.

"Of course I do! I know how to make games fair in order to be fun! I mean, what fun is there to play a game where some players don't have equal opportunities like other players?"

"She's got a point," Lotta told her fellow Harvey Girls.

"Then it's decided! Amanda Anderson, you are now officially a Harvey Girl!" Audrey declared.

Instantly, Amanda begins cheering as she jumps up and down with excitement.

"Wait!" Dot suddenly shouted. "You don't have an official name yet!"

"An official name?" Amanda asked.

"I'm the CEO of Harvey Street Enterprises," stated Dot.

"I'm the protector of Harvey Street," stated Audrey.

"And I'm the snuggler and cuddler of Harvey Street," stated Lotta.

"Oh. Well… I'm…" then, in a Sailor Moon-like sequence, she states, "the fair determinator of Harvey Street!"

"Fair determinator. Sounds very cool!" complimented Audrey.

"Thanks!" said Amanda. "Now let's go save some fun, shall we?"

Next, the Harvey Girls, including Amanda, run out of the house and jump from the porch. Then, the scene freezes as the girls are in midair posing. From this day forward, Amanda is officially a Harvey Girl, the fair determinator of Harvey Street.

**THE END**


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